lentil soup | Lona's in the kitchen

Well, the sun’s finally found its way out of the clouds. It’s been two weeks since we’ve seen it, and its pretty glorious. Still cool though. Went for a very long walk today. Feeling very healthy. Thought I’d keep with that theme by making a healthy and hearty soup.

Yep, lentils again. This is a great winter warmer. And doesn’t take much time or effort to make.

Rinse 3/4 cup of brown lentils. Put them in a medium saucepan and pour over 1 litre of cold water. Bring this to the boil, lower the heat, cover and leave to simmer. In the meantime, dice a medium brown onion and fry in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Once the onions have some colour to them, pour them over the lentils, cover saucepan again and leave to simmer for 40 minutes.

While that’s happening, make a little fresh pasta. In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup plain flour, 1 tablespoon olive oil, pinch salt, and about 2 tablespoons water to form a dough. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes, then roll out very thinly into a long rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Dust with flour and fold or roll up loosely from the long edge. Cut into strips about 1/2 cm thick, then carefully unfold them.

Gently lower the pasta into the lentils and onion, stir to separate the strands. Season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat, cover, allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.